Quick Pickle with Granny Smith Apples – Spicy & Tart !!!

Mangoes are all time love for me and my sisters. Summers are never fun or complete without having juicy ripe mangoes, and  a book to read, lazing beneath the trees, on cool breezy summer afternoons. Summers have always brought back memories of mangoes, both ripe and raw – specially for making pickles and storing them [...]

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Found these baby mangoes…

at the local Indian grocery store and almost shouted out in glee!!!  Although they dont get anywhere close to the tight rounded fresh little beauties that we used to pick up at Ranganathan Street in T.nagar, Chennai, these little ones should still do. Gonna wash them and soak them in spiced brine to make my [...]

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Delicious Onion Thokku (Onions sauteed with spices and made in to a quick delectable pickle)

Onion Thokku used to be my favourite side for chappathis as a student. Amma would always make Onion Thokku and she would pack delicious soft rotis for lunch, along with a side of this delectable thokku. On some days, it would be smeared on the rotis and made in to a roll. It has the [...]

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Nelikkai Oorga (Gooseberry/Amla Pickle)

Gooseberries were an integral part of my childhood snacking ingredient. Everytime we went to Nalli or Kumaran in T.nagar for shopping, me and D would longingly look at the little roughly made wooden carts filled with gooseberries bursting with freshness and goodness. The vendors would parcel the gooseberries in triangular packages and throw in a [...]

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Maavadu / Vadu Maanga (Baby Mangoes soaked in brine flavoured with mild spices.)

Baby Mangoes here in the U.S? No way, I could not believe my eyes. I looked again and sure enough I saw a little basket with baby mangoes all green and fresh waiting to be picked!!!  It brought back wonderful memories of Madras, of summers, of Madurai amma and her home….Every summer, as soon as [...]

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Sweet ‘N’ Sour Lemon Pickle.

This could hardly be called a pickle….its a pickle in the sense of the term that the lemons are preserved in brine or pickling liquid. It`s one that I gew up having. Whenver I felt nauseous, or on one of those days when you want to have easy simple lip smacking stuff, this pickle would [...]

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Tomato Thokku (Pickled Tomatoes)

Tomato Thokku is a form of pickle (read delicacy) that`s so often made in my home…but then one never gets enough of it. Its such a versatile side, you can have it with idli, dosa, upma,curd rice, parathas, bread, tortillas and virtually anything else you can think of. Whenever tomatoes are down to 99c a [...]

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Manga Oorgai (Quick Mango Pickle.)

All my childhood summers, were spent in my grandmother`s home in madras, where all our cousins would meet up and have such a blast.Of course, those were the days of no tv, no mega serials and no countdowns, but we would be allowed to read a lot of novels, play chess and scrabble, make believe” [...]

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